on vient de me dire que c'est "BOIL THE BREAKFAST EARLY "

Considering Ryan Molloy's first instrument was fiddle and he was a student of Brid Harper, I'm pretty sure he knows the tunes, although I can understand why his accompaniment style might not be for purists.

As an Irishman and a lifetime musician I think I understand your first eight words, though 'hate' is too strong a word, and the overall sentiment is puerile. Your critique of the accompanist, on the other hand, is just misinformed and dead wrong!

I think you'd be better off taking those cloth ears back to the shop and exchanging them for real ones. Do you really think a player of Mícheál's calibre would collaborate with someone who didn't know the appropriate chords or tunes? Ryan is a top, top musician.

Piano accompaniment by Ryan Molloy is a true discovery, and I really love it. The harmonies and counter-melodies he finds are not always the most obvious one would use at first try, that is precisely what makes his style priceless. Piano in irish music has its own history yet to be told (let me mention Charlie Lennon, Micheal O Suilleabhain, Brid Cranitch, and also Violet Tulloch further north-east in the Shetlands), and certainly a bright future.

Yes, you can think of it as a 'backing track'. It is created from transformations of sounds from the concertina.

@@MusicAtMaynooth Thanks for that ! I thought it was derived from the concertina, hence the question. I feel certain that this could be done " live " with a fancy foot pedal or laptop ( or phone ! ) , and we can't see her feet, so it's a bit mysterious. I feel bad that I didn't mention how far out it is, regardless of the way it was done - a refreshing change from the usual ********************************

Furnill’s Frolic, it’s from the Joyce Collection. Peter Carberry and Padraig McGovern recorded that set on their ‘Forgotten Gems’ album.

I believe he plays Suttner concertina on this one

Thanks, Kieran! All good and hope you are a well also. Living in Navan these days. Not far from your neck of the woods.

Farewell to Connaught

Both such great tunes!

Indeed